


Tengu...Who?

by Damceon



Series: Character Backstories [11]
Category: Gamer Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:54:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23256505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Damceon/pseuds/Damceon
Series: Character Backstories [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1672036





	Tengu...Who?

Day of the Sun, Month of the Tiger Xa Hoi year 2937 (7210, Imperial Calendar):

The Exile is of age, today. She has celebrated her centennial as an elf-child adopted by the Tengu. My master's instructions have not changed; I am to protect the Exile from the machinations of the other Provinces. I have spent all my adult life in service to the Yami-do-no-Ryo, the Clan of agents that exists solely to protect the Xa Hoi royal families. We are the invisible blades that guard the Ryo-Saibankan, Dragon Judges, from those forces that would seek to depose them through guile and assassination.

It has been an interesting century. Many of the masters of the Yami-do-no-Ryo have grown old and died during my life protecting the exile. My abilities are not wasted, here, but I know there are many secrets I have missed during my long service to the Divine Court. My master claimed I was a perfect Oni-ningen, devil-man, blessed with the life of the eternal spirits, but without the stain of their infernal lusts. I think he may be partly right. For the rest, it is my master's teachings that keep the hunger at bay.

She calls me “brother.” It is a name she gave me during her second decade; as the Tengu loremasters did not live so long as the elven blood flowing in her veins, she and I did not age so fast as her caregivers. The teachers would come and go, some bitter, some clever and keen to teach such an eager student. I believe the Exile has learned too much of the Tengu ways of caprice and greed. The Divine Court may think me a poor guardian if she succumbs to the lures of material wealth.

Order, ever. Bushido, Kiritsu-ryu. This is the air I breathe. Long dead, my master knew even then that I would remain to serve the Divine Court as guardian of the Exile. He never questioned my choice of Kwanlai Province as the place to seclude the child. The Tengu, then, were eager for coin and promises of peace with Xa Hoi. Their squabbling sects have united many times against Bachuan raiders... or the ever-present contempt so long held over them by the rest of Tian-Xia. Xa Hoi is no place for such refuse. Law is law. Live within it, or perish. I had thought, a century ago, that Kwanlai would be useful to the Exile as a place of learning. Here, there is much inequity... in law and spirit.

It has been through my own humble counsel that the Exile does not fall prey to the Tengu mindset, though she shows much skill in languages as the bird-folk do. She grows restless in Kwanlai. Many times in the last decade, I have followed her excursions across Tian-Xia; Minkai, Tianjing, even to the Crossing at Goka. The time has come for her to see more of the world. Her studies have led her to question her yet-unknown heritage. “Kyonin, bastion of the Elves.”

Her tutors have tapped into the Ryo-Ki of the Exile, and she follows the magic that is already in her blood. It will not be long before her true heritage begins to show. She must leave Kwanlai and Tian-Xia before enemies of the Divine Court of Xa Hoi learn of the Exile's development.

Her eagerness to leave will make the endeavor much easier.

…

Day of the Sun, Month of the Tiger, Xa Hoi year 2938 (7211 Imperial Calendar):

We have arrived at the Inner Sea of Garund and Avistan, just east of Casmaron. We are nearer now than ever before to Kyonin. Much of the journey has been calm, though twice have I been forced to draw my blade in defense of my charge. She is becoming quite a skilled sorceress, and I suspect she has guessed more about me in this last year than ever she realized before. The people we have been forced to travel with are discreet, if nothing else. Such is the nature of the Yami-do-no-Ryo... such is the hazard of the Oni-ningen. I am not human, like so many around us. Even the Exile is more well-liked as a foreigner than I could ever be as a guardian in the halls of Xa Hoi. Still, the Exile calls me “brother” on her journey. I have been her Shadow all her life. I see things in the darkness when she cannot. For many years, I have been able to go places she was unable to reach. As the Ryo-Ki grows stronger within her, the Exile's abilities will surpass those of mortals. Perhaps even the ageless Kami. I only hope this journey will cool her impulsiveness and bring her spirit closer to harmony. She has placed herself at risk too often for the sake of others.

…

Day of the Sun, Month of the Ox, Xa Hoi year 2938 (7211 Imperial Calendar):

We have made landfall in Cassomir, in the Province of Taldor. The languages of these people are clumsy and vague. Unprincipled, much of them. With luck, the Elves will prove more scrupulous. Our guide thus-far has been hearsay and local maps. I admit, I've had many occasions to be thankful of the Exile's skill with languages. My own gifts are adequate, but my appearance is off-putting to those not of the austere demeanor of the Divine Court. Many of these commoners have the closed minds of the Wanshou or the appetites of Chu Ye. Now, we are to travel up-river along the Sellen and take the western fork. The Sellen River will lead us inland toward Kyonin. We will re-provision in Bellis. It's a smaller settlement, I've heard, but we have had no trouble keeping out purses jingling and our provisions stocked. We will follow the Sellen by Woodsedge and Dabril, to the forks of Kallas Lake. There, we will be able to find the West Sellen and the inroads to Kyonin. From there, the Exile's information runs thin. I expect we will find more on our arrival.


End file.
